A known peristaltic pump is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,406,633. The known pump is based on the principle that the hose is squeezed by the medium supplied to the hollow space, so that the pumpable material present in the hose is urged from the hose.
In order to ensure that the compression of the hose starts at the proper place, so that the pumpable material is forced in the proper direction, the hose in the known pump is designed in such a way that the wall thickness of the hose increases from the supply end to the discharge end.
A drawback of this known pump is that the required hose is difficult to manufacture. Another drawback is that the hose in the known pump has already been squeezed considerably along the entire length before the hose walls contact each other at a point. Since the pumping action in the proper direction is not initiated until the hose has been entirely squeezed at least locally, the efficiency of the known pump is very low.
Furthermore a separate check device is necessary in the known pump, which results in damage to particles present in the pumpable material. For example, where blood is pumped, the blood platelets could be damaged, which is highly undesirable.